As the CEO of Level 3 Communications, James Crowe 72 holds a distinctive place in the high-stakes telecom industry. Crowe has overseen the development of a nearly $4 billion technology company in an industry that has suffered through a brutal two-year shakeout. He has accomplished this while pursuing a vision of a worldwide fiber-optic network.

So it may be no surprise that to Crowe, who still describes himself as an engineer, the most important intellectual experience as an undergraduate at Rensselaer showed him the link between the laboratory and the bottom line. If I had to pick one class that was most significant, it would be Engineering Economics, says Crowe, explaining that the course taught him to think about not only the cost, but the benefits of technological innovation.